Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Greetings to all and sundry, my name is Jack Grady, from St.
Louis Missouri. I graduated in 2017 from Duke University with a Bachelor’s in
Biology and Evolutionary Anthropology with a concentration in animal behavior. I
first learned of the Hyena project when I studied on BEAM (Behavioral Ecology
of African Mammals) back in 2015. I was impressed not only with the amazing
wildlife, but also with the camps and the grad students.

My first two weeks in Kenya have been jam packed but
incredible. I’ve been going through the classic struggles of camp life: waking
up at 5:00 am everyday, checking the bed for spiders, trying to figure out how
to drive manual transmission, memorizing the land marks, and most importantly
learning how to recognize the 200+ hyenas. That last one has been the biggest
struggle, but I’m finally starting to get the hang of it, I can recognize three
of them by sight.

Some of the highlights with the hyenas have been naming Buenos
Aires latest cub, Slug (her linage all have measurement names), and seeing 3
different mothers of the West Talek Clan bring their cubs to the central den of
their territory. There are now seven adorable, uncoordinated cubs in that den
now, and they are hilarious to watch. We also watched a hyena casually sniffing
a buffalo, just for fun it seemed, and I also saw my first scrum at a kill.

Camp life has also been fantastic; I drove stick for the
first time in my life and only stalled three times. Playing volleyball with the
Maasai staff has been so much fun, and Joseph, our cook, has made fantastic
meals every day. Even the showers are awesome. I know that the workload will
start to ramp up once we begin doing transcriptions but for now it’s been
extremely tranquil and idyllic. I can’t wait to see what will happen next.

Help Support the Research

You can help support our research by making a donation to the Hyena Research Fund at MSU. Your contributions provide necessary resources for the students and scientists to continue our work. Use the link below to make a donation or contact MSU for additional details.